How will districts grade teachers?

How will districts grade teachers?

“They should be done really thoughtfully, based on research and other work people have done elsewhere.”

But the U.S. Department of Education wants an evaluation system in place that includes student performance by 2014-15.

And federal regulators may have the leverage to get their way.

For starters, low-performing schools that have accepted federal School Improvement Grant funds are expected to adopt teacher evaluations that use student performance. That applies to half of Chicago public schools this year, and the remaining half next year.

More broadly, Illinois may have to speed its teacher evaluations statewide if it wants to be freed from other federal regulations.

That’s because Illinois, like most states, has sought a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act, allowing for it to be exempted from the law’s more austere provisions in exchange for reforms. Those reforms include overhauling teacher evaluations to include student performance.

More than 30 states, including Missouri, have already received such waivers.

Illinois is still in the application phase, a process that will ultimately settle when the new evaluations must be in place.